Page 166 of Out of Bounds

Seconds passed and Kassie didn’t say anything but I didn’t worry about it. It was the truth. Kassie and I were end game. It was a simple fact, like the weather outside or the score for yesterday’s game.

Kassie’s going to be my wife.

"It means a lot to me," she finally whispered.

"You mean everything to me," I replied.

I could hear the hitch in her breath and I could feel her heartbeat against me. Maybe I could get used to this position after all. Gently, I ran my hand along her hip and took a deep breath, letting the satisfaction take over me.

My eyelids were heavy. I was…comfortable. Between her legs. I was home.

I jerked up.

Fuck. I almost fell asleep.

I couldn’t fall asleep. We had a schedule to keep to for the rest of the day. I had…something in twenty minutes. But Kassie didn’t say anything, she just kept running her fingers through my hair. Did I really just nod off?

"I’m not falling asleep," I mumbled.

"Didn’t say you were."

Good.

"Five minutes and we have to get up," I said, even if I really couldn’t figure out how long I’d been laying down for.

Kassie didn’t reply. She just kept running her fingers through my hair and slowly, my eyes closed again. I shifted forward, pressing my cheek against her soft skin and breathed in her strawberry lotion.

65

Kassie

Like His Last Meal

At nine o’clock at night, cross-legged on the couch in our dorm, I went through the timelapse of my animation process, trying to focus on exactly where I’d made the mistake and hid the layer. I should’ve been clicking through Florida apartments, but I couldn’t concentrate on them. Each of them—palm trees included—blurred into each other.

The lock on the front door jiggled and Zariah barrelled through it.

"Damn!" She laughed. "I keep forgetting it’s fixed!"

I held up a finger to my lips. "Z, shhh."

"You should’ve come with,” Zariah told me, oblivious to me trying to get her to be quiet. “June snuck in drinks at the movies, we poured them in the slushies."

“Z, I need to talk to you—”

My best friend strolled into our bedroom and I wasn’t quick enough to stop her.

I lurched up. "Zariah."

She quickly closed the door again and spun around to look at me. Her eyebrows raised up as far as they could go. "Kass?"

I settled back on the couch. "Don’t wake him up."

"Kassandra Ragar.” Zariah did a double-take. “There is aslutin your bed.”

“And he’s asleep. Let him sleep.”

“Ashirtlessfootball player in ourroom. Shirtless. On yourbed.Sluttily sleeping."

---